Cameo
by FandomsForeva
Summary: The appearance Frederick Chase makes at his daughter's wedding is barely that.


_Dear Friends and Family_

 _We're happy to say that we're getting married!_

 _Join us on_

 _ **August 1, 2014**_

 _For the wedding of Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson!_

XXXXX

The backside of the invitation, as well as the many emails that Annabeth, the rest of the Athena cabin, and several people involved in wedding planning had sent all detailed where and at what time the wedding was going to take place (on the Sound in Camp Half-Blood, from 11-1, when the reception would start).

Frederick opened his bag once again, searching through the different papers (about half of which concerned the wedding) to find the invitation itself. It was on nice cardstock paper, with a green background and light orange lettering and trim. Pretty. But Annabeth's favorite color was blue—

 _No._ Frederick reminded himself that he was no longer the authority on Annabeth. He had to take a step back. He had to take a step back—

 _(But there's two exclamation points on the invitation, 27 words divided by two exclamation points is 1 exclamation point for every fourteen words, and Annabeth hates exclamation points!)_

Frederick took in a deep, gasping breath all of a sudden. His eyes felt strange, as did his chest.

"Honey?" Helen asked. "You okay?" She kept her eyes firmly on the road, twisting the wheel gently with every curve of the path from New York City out to Camp Half-Blood.

 _(I hope that Annabeth keeps her eyes on the road—)_

"Are we there yet?" Matthew groaned from the backseat. His phone had run out of charge somewhere in Queens, and he had been complaining the whole way since there.

"I told you, it'll be another little while, honey," Helen replied to him.

 _(This was a bad idea, Annabeth just sent it as a courtesy, she didn't expect us to show up—)_

"Why are we going, anyway? Annabeth's _barely_ our sister!"

"Bobby! Don't be rude!"

Frederick closed his eyes. Annabeth hadn't lived with him since she was seventeen, for three disastrous months, and Bobby would've been eight then. Not that they deserved having Annabeth around. Annabeth had been more than gracious. But they didn't deserve her, after everything that he had put her through.

 _(I'm sorry, honey.)_

 **Dear friends and family**

By the time that the Chases arrived on the Sound, there were already over a hundred people milling about. Most of them were between the ages of ten and twenty—"at least the boys won't be bored," Helen mumbled—and Frederick had no doubt that those were Annabeth's family on the godly side.

 _(That'd be her real family, right? Jesus, has she really lived_ here _for longer than with us?)_

A young, attractive boy accosted them as soon as they had parked. "Hi! Here for the wedding?"

Helen nodded. "Yes. We're Annabeth's family."

The boy's eyes widened momentarily as he seemed to realize who they were.

 _(They know, they all know what we did to our little girl, to_ their _little girl—)_

"Well, I'm Carlos. Here's a program, and a seating chart—"

Another boy interrupted them. "I'm Neil, and here's a program and a seating chart."

"Neil, _I'm_ helping them!"

"No, you're not! I'm going to win!"

"I'm going to win, dumbass!"

"Shut the Hades up, fucker! I always win!"

Helen steered the four of them away from the argument with a seating plan from each of them. At least Bobby and Matthew looked entertained.

 **We're happy to say that we're getting married!**

They were sitting close to the back.

 _(But I'm her father I should be closer)_

From what Frederick could see, he was taller than most people here, so he'd be able to see. That was good. He wanted to see his little girl getting married.

 _(I should be giving her away)_

Frederick's thoughts suddenly strayed to Bobby and Matthew's weddings, and he wondered if Helen was thinking about the same thing as he took her hand. But no, she pointed out, "there's barely any adults here."

"It's all the campers."

Helen sighed. "Weird place to grow up."

 _(Don't call my little girl weird she's not weird)_

"Yeah. But Annabeth turned out well."

"Of course! She's at Yale, and already an intern, and she's going to be somebody big someday. I was just thinking of...of, well, growing up at a summer camp."

"It would be interesting, though. They learned everything that they needed to know."

"Just not the normal stuff. I—not to say that Annabeth isn't _normal—_ but this isn't quite like the real world."

"Yeah. But Annabeth said that they had math classes, and most people here are trilingual at least."

"It's very interesting."

An older man entered their row, holding out his hand. "Hey. Paul Blofis."

 _(Is that Blowfish? Blowfish are interesting. I—focus!)_

"Frederick Chase."

"Ah! So you're Annabeth's father! It's a pleasure to meet you."

"And you must be…"

"I'm Percy's stepfather."

Frederick and Helen both stood, shaking Paul's hand. "It's a pleasure," Helen said.

"Very. Do you by any chance study blowfish?"

"Frederick!" Helen hissed.

Paul laughed good-naturedly. "English, actually."

"Of course. Like Sally?"

"It's how we met. Have you met Ilaria, actually? Our daughter?"

"I haven't had the chance."

Paul introduced them to Ilaria, his daughter and Percy's sister, and introduced them to some of the older demigods, as well as friends from Percy and Annabeth's colleges and internships.

 _(Where's Annabeth I know she's not coming out yet but I want to see her_ )

What was Frederick waiting for? _What do I want?_ He wondered. Did he want to see Annabeth because he thought that she'd miraculously let him walk her down the aisle and act like her father instead of whoever had really been her father for the rest of her life?

He was being an idiot.

"Frederick?" Frederick became aware of Paul asking. "Are you alright?"

"Of course. Just...it's strange. To think about my daughter being married in less than an hour."

Paul gave Frederick a smile that let him know he felt the exact same way.

 **Join us on**

Too soon, the wedding started.

They did in an unconventional way. Annabeth walked down the aisle first. Frederick wasn't prepared for that. He thought that he'd have a while to calm himself, but at the sight of his daughter looking beautiful, strong, confident in her wedding dress, Frederick started crying.

So he missed Percy walking down the aisle afterwards, escorted by Sally. He heard the vows and the cheers as his little girl got married.

But he couldn't see her through the tears.

The people around him were at least nice enough to pretend that he wasn't bothering them.

 **August 1, 2014**

Frederick had calmed himself by the time they were in the receiving line. Bobby and Matthew were bored, and were articulating that, but Helen kept them in control. Eventually, they started talking with a few children that looked around their age in front of them.

 _(They'll like this place better too they'll want to leave just like Annabeth did—no—I made her leave, didn't I)_

The leader of that group introduced himself. "Damien White. We're the Nemesis Cabin."

"Frederick and Helen Chase," Helen introduced them. "We're Annabeth's parents."

Damien at least tried to cover the look of shock on his face, but one of his siblings wasn't so kind. "Are you the ones that made her deal with the spiders?"

 _(My fault Helen's fault my fault Helen's fault our fault)_

Helen looked as though she'd been slapped. "Emily! Shut up!" Damien told her.

Emily shrugged. "Just sayin'."

Damien pulled her aside, and they started whisper-yelling at each other.

Frederick and Helen didn't interact with anyone through the rest of the receiving line, although Bobby and Matthew seemed to enjoy talking with the three Nemesis children around their age, who Frederick was able to hear were Irving, Aja, and Wolfe.

 _(Bobby and Matthew are happy at least, they're the right age for this, but Helen and I won't ever be able to understand—)_

"Dad?"

They were at the front of the line.

"Hi, Annabeth," Helen said.

Frederick was only able to nod, his voice missing just like his keys and socks and daughter.

"I—I'm glad you could make it."

"Us too," Frederick said. "You look beautiful."

"Thank you."

"It was a wonderful ceremony. You two will be so happy together."

Percy looked nervous. "Thank you so much. I, well...I'm sorry that I never got your blessing, but—"

"No! You two don't need our blessing. Really."

Percy looked at a loss for words. "We'll catch up later," he promised, looking at Annabeth, who seemed at a loss as well.

"Well, Annabeth...I...I love you," Frederick managed, moving in awkwardly for a hug. It was loose and felt strange, too unfamiliar for a hug with his daughter. "We'll talk."

 _(I need more time there's never enough time—)_

 **For the wedding of Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson!**

They did talk. It was nice. Annabeth seemed to open up a little, and Bobby and Matthew loved talking with her and Percy. They promised to visit, and now that there was apparently another camp in San Francisco, Frederick had no doubt that they would at least feel obligated to drop by once or twice a year.

And then they were all leaving once more. The Chases were going to drive down to Virginia so that they could see their old home and meet up with old friends. (Before the wedding they had flown into Boston for a much more unpleasant trip around the city to see old family members and more than a few gravestones.) Then they had their flight out of the city.

"Do you want to get coffee sometime this week?" Annabeth blurted out as they were about to leave.

"We're going to Richmond!" Bobby told her.

 _(I'll cancel the plans this is more important—)_

"Oh. I..I see."

And Annabeth turned and left.

 _(Don't go don't you dare go no please I'm sorry!)_

As they began the drive back, Helen told him, "get a rental car."

"You're not coming with us to Richmond, Dad?" Matthew asked.

"I need to get some coffee with Annabeth," Frederick told them. "Sorry, boys."

Bobby shrugged. "Get something good."

XXXXX

"I can't believe that he showed up," Annabeth muttered.

"But it was nice that he did."

Annabeth shrugged. "We barely talked."

"You'll talk more later."

"I doubt it." Annabeth sighed, thinking of how distant and awkward her father—her entire family on that side—had seemed. The Chase family had come to its dissolution a long time ago. It just wasn't meant to be. "We haven't been family in a long time."

*end*

 **Notes: I wrote this to highlight that there's not always a perfect resolution in life, so I really hope that it doesn't feel like this story came to a good ending. It wasn't supposed to. With that said, I can't help but think that Annabeth's way of getting closure with her father would be to ignore her father's existence. Their relationship is truly heartbreaking in that respect. Thoughts?**

 **Soundtrack: Circle Game (Joni Mitchell)**


End file.
